The trial of a 41-year-old Arbutus man charged with the beating death of another man in the bathroom of Morsberger’s Tavern in Catonsville in March was postponed Nov. 4 due to the emergence of a witness statement of which the defense attorney was unaware.

Benjamin Shorter, of the 900 block of St. Charles Avenue, was scheduled to begin standing trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court Wednesday morning on first-degree murder and first-degree assault charges for the death of Franklin Schissler, 66, of the unit block of Wade Avenue in Catonsville.

Schissler was found badly beaten in the bathroom of the Frederick Road bar shortly after 1:30 p.m. March 29, a Sunday.

The newly discovered statement allegedly deals with Schissler’s status after he was beaten but before he was taken to St. Agnes Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later, according to an attorney in the case.

Hossein Parvizian, an assistant public defender for Baltimore County and Shorter’s attorney, who requested the postponement, said Schissler’s autopsy report shows cause of death as a heart attack.

The new statement shows that a witness told police at the time of the incident that Schissler was “sitting up and talking” after the beating.

The state’s case for first-degree murder hinges on the connection between the beating and the heart attack.

Parvizian said he asked Circuit Judge John Turnbull for the postponement in order to gather more information about the statement — which had apparently been discovered in police records by Matthew Darnbrough, an assistant state’s attorney and the prosecutor in the case, on Nov. 2.

Parvizian said he also needs more time to schedule a forensic pathologist to take the stand as an expert witness.

Parvizian said Darnbrough called him immediately upon discovering the statement.

Darnbrough did not oppose the postponement.

Turnbull called the new statement a “surprise” and said it may be “extremely important to the defense” to hire an expert witness.

It is also important that the attorneys evaluate all the evidence in the case in order to avoid questions about the legitimacy of the trial, he said.

“The court does not want to try this case twice,” Turnbull said.

Because of that, Turnbull found cause to postpone the trial, he said.

That is one of two ways for a trial to be postponed past the 180-day period in which a defendant must be tried  under the Hicks rule, which ensures defendants a speedy trial.

That period in this case ends Nov. 23. Shorter was indicted in May.

The only other way for a trial to occur after that time period is for the defendant to waive his right to a speedy trial.

Despite the fact that his own attorney requested the postponement, Shorter refused to waive that right at the postponement hearing Nov. 4, saying he was “not interested in delaying the vindication of my name in this case.”

It was the second hearing in a row in which Shorter went against his own attorney to oppose a postponement.

He did not agree on Oct. 29, when Parvizian asked for a postponement to have for more time to retain a forensic pathologist as an expert witness.

In that hearing, Shorter’s refusal to waive his right caused Parvizian’s request for a postponement to be denied.

Parvizian said a motions hearing in the trial has been set for Jan. 19, during which he expects Darnbrough to make a motion to introduce “some gruesome photos” as evidence.

The trial has been rescheduled to begin Feb. 18.

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